After a gloomy, gray, cold and damp two week stint in Columbus, Ohio, I am finally going to be winging my way westward later today. Unfortunately, I won't be quite making it all the way back to Nevada, as I have a weekend of pain awaiting me in Denver, and will make it all the way home on Monday afternoon. Speaking of Carson City, it was recently ranked as the number one American city to have not recovered, Reno/Sparks followed at second worst. Of course local officials dispute the claim. Another interesting read is about the top 10 large metropolitan areas in the world that haven't recovered.In my opinion, statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk: theoretically to be used for illumination but more often for support. Or they can be likened to a bikini on a hot woman, revealing, but still hiding that which is critical.I find it interesting that the news article, though the mentioning the site by name (247wallst.com), doesn't actually link to the report.

I noticed that I didn't include any photos of Columbus when I made the blog post. Despite the apparent rant against it (was it a rant? Nah.) The downtown area is actually quite nice, if not active during non-business hours. I must say the folks are very friendly, I've already established my coffee connection at Caribou Coffee in the Huntington Center. Clinton sees me coming and has my cup of ginormous, black bold ready to roll with a ready smile and a jaunty "Good morning!" (perhaps a bit too jaunty, before the first cup.)And the good folks at Market 65 (A lot like Ingredient in Lawrence KS) remembered me on just my second trip inside the restaurant. That's good service. Not to mention great food. Cinco Burrito has also been a mainstay for me for breakfast. Again, good food, great people. If things work out to continued work here in Columbus, I can handle it.Anyway, a couple of photos to start the day.

Capitol building through the glass from the 19th floor of the Riffe Building

Huntington Center from the south side of the Capitol. Part of the Riffe building is visible on the left.

As the last post stated, I am in OH for a couple of weeks, it dealt with the business stuff. On to the running front. Hmm. This week I was only able to escape for a run twice, the first one being Monday: a dreadmill grind of 3 miles. It only seemed like 30. God, how I abhor gerbiling. I set the machine for a fast pace and tried to ignore the voices in my head telling me that I needed to kill, KILL KILL! I did notice the guy next to me doing speed work. Set the machine at 8+ mph, sprint for a minute, then step to the sides while the machine whirrs along for a couple minutes. Wow. Great way to rack up the miles on the display. I'm a little unclear on the workout performance, though.The rest of the workweek, I was in a monkey suit and tie from before dawn to well past dark. I was advised not to run at night by hotel staff, and the gym itself closed at 8. Even if I could have gone for a run, all motivation to do so was gone. I crawled to my hotel room and stared at the walls until 2 or 3 when the mind chatter eventually ceased, and I finally dropped off.The second run was in the cold, gray and breezy weather early Saturday morning. with temps in the mid 20s, I crawled along the Scioto River trail north-ishly to the Olentangy River Trail, where I headed more north-ishly to The Ohio State University campus. The 1/2 inch of snow on the concrete/asphalt trail made it a bit easier on my joints. Though as I neared the end of the return of the out-and-back, my IT band was playing up. (Get it? Band-->playing? Ha.) Seems when I have a run like that, my enthusiasm for ever running drains away. I'm sure it will return. It usually does when I see a dirt trailhead. But as of the here and now, the gray, flat concrete and asphalt encourages me to do nothing.

I am in Ohio until the end of the week doing a consulting gig for the legislature. A few things have surprised me and a few haven't. The weather has been exactly what I expected when I left sunny and cold Carson City. Gray? - check. Cold? - check. Humid? - check. I had no expectations regarding wind, but it's there, and cold. If wind could be gray, it would be gray, too.On the surprise side, for a large population (7th most populous in the US, according to Not-Dark-Today Wikipedia), the non-automated way they do business kind of surprises me. As a co-worker put it, the process is "paper and people." True that. In my professional capacity, I am here poking and prodding to see what documents they create and to stitch a narrative together describing the process end to end. It's not surprising to me after doing this a few times, how few people in the organization have a comprehensive view of the enterprise workflow. That is probably because of the need to focus on the piece of the puzzle that directly relates to your own existence to keep your head above water. My goal over the next couple of weeks it do document how they can get a bigger bang per technology buck. A short and intense couple of weeks that will hopefully pay off in the longer run with a contract to do some automation. For me, if they decided to incorporate bill drafting in the mix of new tech, I'll likely be involved.I have to say, I am unpleasantly surprised at the ghost town quality of the area around the Capitol at night and on weekends. I'm shocked, shocked! at the dearth of Starbucks and the hours the one that I did find keeps - close at 3? seriously? Also, there are only two restaurants I've found within easy walking distance of my hotel that are even open past 4 pm, and neither is open weekends. Good if you are on a diet, I suppose.I'm looking forward to blitzing this bad boy this week and jetting home.

So, we are now in the middle of January in the Sierra. Typically, there would be a lot of snow on the ground. Last year at this time, the Tahoe Basin was at 192% of average annual precipitation. This year, you ask? We are sitting at a whopping 7%, with no viable chance for precipitation until next week sometime. It seems that the forecast seems to show snow, but as it approaches it becomes virtual virga and never shows up. That's been the pattern for the last month.I did a quick check on accuweather.com to see just how much precipitation has fallen. The answer: not much. In the last 7 months there has been only one precipitation event: a 2" snowfall with 0.20" water on November 4, 2011. To find the next previous incident of measurable precipitation, I had to go back to June 4-6, 2011, where over the three days, we received 2.44" of rain.As a runner and outdoors kind of guy, I like being able to access the trails that are typically under meters of snow this time of year. However, my enthusiasm is tempered by knowing unless we get some serious snowfall, the summer fire season is going to get really ugly and be a spring, summer, fall and winter fire season. Also, if we are to get back to average snowfalls, it means a cold, and wet spring. Ugh. I am starting to wonder if the changes we are experiencing will become the new norm? Last year, we received a lot of snow in December from a couple of serious storms, then a very dry and warm January and February, followed by a cold, wet spring. This year appears to be following a similar pattern, though without the storms that pummeled the area in Dec 2010. Only time and more data will tell.On a different note, I am off to Columbus, OH for the next couple of weeks. Off to the land of cold, gray and flat. I'll miss the hill running, though I will try to get the miles in, regardless. I need to keep up on the goals!But before I go, I am participating in my first race (Centennial Slug It Out 10k) in almost 2 years. I am not considering it a race though; it's just a run with a lot of people who happen to be wearing numbers. If I think of it as a race, and I don't do as well as I want (which has never happened), I'll go all dysthymic and make the airplane ride the next day worse. So, it's just a run... It's just a run... It's just a run.

With the new year (Why the new year starts at this particular point in the astronomical year and not at some sensical time, like an equinox or solstice is due to religion. It figures religion causes something non-sensical, but I digress.), most people go for goal setting. I decided to do the same and set goals for both running miles and moving minutes. No, I'm not going to disclose specifics, but I will be happy to share my progress graphically. Below is the graph for running this year. Yay! I'm ahead of my goal pace! Unfortunately, the goal pace will not flatten, and every day I take off from running, my actual mileage does do that. Hmm, better get my butt out there before blue catches green!

Running mileage vs. goal pace

What do I mean by moving minutes? I the probable event of an injury that precludes me doing any running, I still can get out and be active by walking, geocaching with my kids, swimming (in my case, floundering in water), biking, etc. You get the idea. I have goals for both mileage and time spent. This means I'll pretty much have my Garmin strapped to me when I'm outdoors, but that's OK, the battery life is pretty good.I'll update the blog periodically with graphs. At least while I'm ahead of the game!

When I run, I often (less often, lately) run in a group. When I don't run with a physical group, I tend to run with my neuroses, specifically Fear of Failure, Bad Form and Constant Pain. There is usually some random other guy appearing intermittently. Yes, they're all guys, but that's not relevant. What is relevant, is that even when I run solo, in my mind, I'm still in a group run environment. That made me think about dynamics of group running.I think all group runs can be categorized in three general categories, with sub categories available by combining any two of the general categories, creating a potential for six types of group run dynamics.The most commonly known and recognized group run dynamic category is the Competitive dynamic. This occurs in every race, kind of by definition. You are in competition with the guy/gal next to you, behind you and - heaven forbid! - ahead of you. This type of dynamic is also apparent in more informal group runs where a person or two is determined to run at the head of the group, or to maintain a position over another runner. It's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, I would argue that it is a good thing, provided the competition is in good spirits and both(all) parties know there is a competition occurring. ("Race you to the top of the hill!")A second dynamic is the Collaborative. The Collaborative dynamic is evidenced by encouragement, teamwork and other non-A-Type competitive activities. If a Competitive dynamic can be expressed as Martian (a la "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"), Collaborative run dynamics are Venusian. Typically a Collaborative dynamic should be present in all training runs, as the group as a whole is usually interested in getting all individuals across the goal of readiness for the upcoming event. The ultimate Collaborative runner is the pacer; all effort is given to getting the other runner to their goal. A Collaborative - Competitive sub-dynamic presents itself in every relay race and also can be present in individual races. The combination in a relay is obvious; you are competitive as a team and collaborative within the team. Less obvious is the dynamic at work in an individual setting. It manifests itself in a race such that you as an individual are competing to the best of your ability, yet you still are rooting for your fellow runners to be their best - even if that best is better than you. A strange situation for A-Types like myself, to be sure, but I hear that dynamic is reasonably common in Venusian types. Me? I push competitors into bushes in order to win. I'm very Martian. :-)The third and final general dynamic is the Comparative. I tend to fall into this dynamic on nearly every run, either as part of a group or solo. The Comparative dynamic manifests itself as a low-grade competition; more along the lines of "I can do that." kind of thing when comparing to others. It also comes about in comparing your current performance to your own past performances: "I did this route last month in 38:05, let's see if I can beat it." Typically that is an OK thing. Where it isn't an OK thing is when the runner falling into the Comparative dynamic fails to take any mitigating factors into account. (OK, me.) I neglect to account for current mental and physical health, aging, weather or anything and hold myself to the standard that I should always be better than before. The most competitive, and probably the most damaging, too, dynamic is the Competitive-Comparative. In this dynamic, the runner is competing with others, AND comparing performances. This is all well and good provided the runner competes and compares favorably. Unfortunately, if either or both aspects fail to meet standards, the mental toll can be... ungood. I speak from experience. Too many of my runs/races have fallen into this category. I think it contributed mightily to my demurring on any races in the last couple of years. The Collaborative-Comparative dynamic is probably the healthiest of them all. I see it as comparative in comparing against past performances, and collaborative in getting everyone to exceed their comparator. It excludes interpersonal comparisons and any animosity that can bring and has the potential of bringing out the best in every runner. I need to work on making all my runs this year Collaborative-Comparative.What do you think? Are there other categories? Do you fit one or another?